Previous
Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Great Triumph:
At the beginning of “An Episode of War,” the narrator describes how the lieutenant divides up his troop’s supply of coffee grounds, using verbal irony in the process:
The lieutenant was frowning and serious at this task of division. His lips pursed as he drew with his sword various crevices in the heap, until brown squares of coffee, astoundingly equal in size, appeared on the blanket. He was on the verge of a great triumph in mathematics.
When the narrator describes the lieutenant’s “task of division” as “a great triumph in mathematics” because he was able to separate the coffee grounds into equal pieces, they are using verbal irony. That is to say, the narrator very much does not believe this to be a “great triumph of mathematics,” and they refer to it that way to sarcastically point out how far from triumphant this mundane moment is.
This is one of the many moments in the story in which Crane highlights the less-than-romantic nature of war, communicating to readers that war is made up of many mundane moments between inexperienced young men who know very little about the true horrors of battle. Separating the coffee is only a “triumph” because they know little of real triumph.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Reactions to the Wound:
In an example of situational irony, the two military men that the wounded lieutenant meets on his way to the hospital treat him (and his wounded arm) with disdain rather than care. The following passage—which comes during his interaction with an officer—captures the irony of this experience:
Several officers came out to him and inquired concerning things of which he knew nothing. One, seeing his arm, began to scold. “Why, man, that’s no way to do. You want to fix that thing.” He appropriated the lieutenant and the lieutenant’s wound […] The lieutenant hung his head, feeling, in this presence, that he did not know how to be correctly wounded.
The irony in this passage is centered on the fact that, upon seeing a wounded young comrade, an officer reacts by “scolding” him, telling him “that’s no way to do” and making him feel like “he did not know how to be correctly wounded.” This last statement is particularly ironic since there is, of course, no way to be “correctly wounded.”
When the lieutenant finally makes it to the hospital, the surgeon who greets him “seemed possessed suddenly of a great contempt for the lieutenant” upon noticing the lieutenant's injury and the lieutenant, in response, feels himself to be “on a very low social plane.” Here, again, readers may have expected the lieutenant to be treated with kindness and compassion—having just been injured in war and seeking out the care of a medical doctor—but instead he is treated with condescension and contempt. This contributes to the shame that he feels and, Crane suggests, the shame that many inexperienced young soldiers feel when hurt in the line of fire.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—All-Knowing Stragglers:
In an example of situational irony, the lieutenant runs into a group of off-duty soldiers on his way to the hospital. He discovers that they know more about the battle than he does, despite the fact that he has just come from it. The irony comes across in the following passage:
He came upon some stragglers, and they told him how to find the field hospital. They described its exact location. In fact, these men, no longer having part in the battle, knew more of it than others. They told the performance of every corps, every division, the opinion of every general. The lieutenant, carrying his wounded arm rearward, looked upon them with wonder.
Here, the narrator notes how the lieutenant looks upon these off-duty “stragglers” with “wonder” as they describe in detail “the performance of every corps, every division, the opinion of every general” despite “no longer having part in the battle.” This is an example of situational irony because the lieutenant and readers alike expect these soldiers to know far less about the battle than the lieutenant does, given that he was just there and had been wounded in the fight. In other words, the stragglers are the one who should be looking in wonder at him.
This moment is significant because it highlights how being on the frontlines of a war can keep soldiers from having perspective—it’s likely that the “stragglers” do know things that the lieutenant does not. At the same time, this ironic moment encourages readers to wonder if these men really know all that they claim to, or if they are merely inexperienced soldiers posturing in order to prove their worth.
Related Themes:
